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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22366348">Take Me Back, Back, Back</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/starrylitme/pseuds/starrylitme'>starrylitme</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 | The End of Kibougamine Gakuen | End of Hope's Peak High School, Dangan Ronpa Zero, Super Dangan Ronpa 2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Minor Violence, Non-Graphic Violence, Temporary Character Death, Time Loop</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-01-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 11:22:16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,734</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22366348</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/starrylitme/pseuds/starrylitme</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>One minute he's failed to convince Hinata Hajime against the Kamukura Izuru Project. The next, he's in a hospital bed with Hinata Hajime leaning over him. In a scene that he could've sworn already happened months ago.</p>
<p>(A Time Loop fic set in Ultimate Despair by Ultimate_Nerd_Lady.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hinata Hajime/Komaeda Nagito</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>175</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Mixed_Fics, Time Travel and World Travel</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Take Me Back, Back, Back</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ultimate_Nerd_Lady/gifts">Ultimate_Nerd_Lady</a>.</li>


        <li>
            Inspired by

            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/11233800">Ultimate Despair</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ultimate_Nerd_Lady/pseuds/Ultimate_Nerd_Lady">Ultimate_Nerd_Lady</a>.
        </li>

    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hello, hello! I think this is my first...fanfic of a fanfic? Hopefully I did well, hahaha. Time loops are like, lowkey my shit because I'm all about the angst. This is pretty angsty, too, obviously. I wasn't sure what to do with the ending, whether to end it in another defeat or an actual success so I figured ambiguous would be fine.</p>
<p>Also I remembered belatedly despite reading over the fic for context several times that the fic actually only uses given names. And I have a diehard habit of largely using surnames with given names being a rare exception. Oops. Well, just pretend it's a different translation or something since the characters all speak Japanese. That's meta enough for dgrp, right?</p>
<p>Honestly writing fics of other people's fics is a lot of fun. So I'm glad I went this route. Please enjoy!!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He first remembers a dead phone line. The ground rippling and sinking below. It’s cold. It’s dark. He still can’t move. His heart pounds on the inside of his chest.</p>
<p>
  <em>Let me out, <strong>let me out!</strong></em>
</p>
<p>It’s screaming. Inside, it’s all just screaming.</p>
<p>
  <em>Let me out! Let me see him! Please! <strong>Please</strong>! It can’t end like this!</em>
</p>
<p>“It’s not use,” Matsuda Yasuke had told him. “He’s too far gone.”</p>
<p>
  <em>Hinata-kun.</em>
</p>
<p>He laughs. His trapped heart sobs between its screams.</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <em>Hinata-kun!</em>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>And he wakes up, jumping as Hinata yelps.</p>
<p>“H-Hey, easy, easy there!” Hinata grips his shoulders as he thrashes, squeezing and frantic. “Calm down, it’s just me!”</p>
<p>He stills. He’s panting. He’s in the bed of the nurse’s office. There’s sunlight filtering through the window, catching onto Hinata Hajime’s worried face. His furrowed brow. Komaeda stares.</p>
<p>The next onslaught of memories leave him limp and breathless. Hinata exclaims something. Is quick to embrace him so that he doesn’t slip. Quickly spills out bland reassurances. Komaeda’s heart is still pounding, but it’s not asking him to be let out.</p>
<p>“Hinata-kun.”</p>
<p>Hinata rubs his back awkwardly, nearly choking out his response as if he were shaken up, too. “Y-Yeah?”</p>
<p>“What just happened?”</p>
<p>“I-I don’t know,” Hinata stammers. “I mean, we were having band practice. You were swaying. Mioda thought it was to the music but you looked a little paler than usual and then—uh. You fell. Tumbled off the stage, too. How hard did you...?”</p>
<p>Not being an Ultimate, Hinata’s hand groping his skull for the implied bruise was uncomfortable and awkward. Komaeda still leaned into the touch. It hurt like hell, but he’s been through worse. So much worse.</p>
<p>“Aw, jeez.” Hinata quickly retracts his hand. “Yeah, that’s a bump. Don’t think we can continue practicing like this.”</p>
<p>“Ahaha.” Komaeda remembers, now, and just like before, he shakes his head. “No, no, I’m fine enough to sing. I can just sit down while I do if you’re worried about my balance.”</p>
<p>“Are you sure? There’s no shame in taking a break while you’re injured.”</p>
<p>“There is shame in disappointing others, especially when they’re Ultimates.”</p>
<p>They’ve had this conversation before. It’s all familiar.</p>
<p>When his feet touch the ground, he feels the rippling.</p>
<p>
  <em>Was that—all really just a dream?</em>
</p>
<p>Hinata’s expression is strained and conflicted. It’s clear he wants to argue. Komaeda remembers being irritated with him. Bristling and telling him off.</p>
<p>He feels different now.</p>
<p>“I’ll be fine. It’s fine.”</p>
<p>“If you...say so.”</p>
<p>He says all that and when Hinata pulls away to let him stand, his heart thumps in protest.</p>
<p>
  <em>No, no, no.</em>
</p>
<p>“A-At least help me up,” Komaeda mutters lamely, raising his hand. Hinata shorts, but he doesn’t hesitate. He takes Komaeda’s hand. He smiles just a bit.</p>
<p>He squeezes, and Komaeda’s heart soars.</p>
<hr/>
<p>There were more moments of familiarity. Conversations and banter that he had been through once before. Flashes of the future pushing at his skull before they’d happen in front of him. Building and building until a fateful, undoubtedly significant moment.</p>
<p>It was Hinata’s birthday. He showed up to give him a present. He hadn’t seen anyone else in weeks. It hadn’t been any easier the supposed second time. He felt a little sick, honestly.</p>
<p>And then, Hinata Hajime asked him—</p>
<p>“If you had the opportunity to be gifted talent...would you take it?”</p>
<p>“What on earth are you saying?”</p>
<p>His initial response was the same, but his heart was pounding in his ears.</p>
<p>“You’re fine as you are.” The words spill out before he can stop them. “You don’t need talent, you’re already worthwhile.”</p>
<p>“H-Huh?! That’s a complete 180 from your usual behavior.” Hinata straightens up, but he seems attentive. Komaeda wonders. “What’s gotten into you all of a sudden?”</p>
<p>It occurs to him, then, that he’s gripping Hinata’s hands tight. Tight enough that his own might break.</p>
<p>“You’re fine as you are,” he presses. “You don’t need any sort of talent! So, just—forget it! Forget all about it!”</p>
<p>“H-How the hell am I supposed to forget?! Oi, Komaeda, let go!”</p>
<p>“Hajime, don’t go—!”</p>
<p>Hinata shoves him away. The words keep spilling and spilling.</p>
<p>“Hope and talent still can’t be manufactured—no matter what they do, no matter what you do, it won’t matter. All you’re doing is killing yourself. What’s the good in that? You’re reducing yourself to a husk for—for what? For just the idea that you could be talented?!”</p>
<p>“W-What are you—you don’t know what you’re—<em>argh</em>!” Hinata clutches his head, and he screams. “Shut up! Just shut up!”</p>
<p>“Hajime, I-I’m just saying...”</p>
<p>“Get out! Get out, get out, get out!”</p>
<p>“H-Hajime, please—!”</p>
<p>Hinata removes him forcibly. He threatens to call the police when Komaeda bangs on his door. It’s an empty threat. The police won’t care, especially not the campus cops. But Komaeda freezes, seizes, and then—</p>
<p>Through blurring tears, he wakes up again. Hinata is by his side again, fretting over him.</p>
<p>“W-What’s wrong, Komaeda?! Komaeda?”</p>
<p>“I-I... I... A-Aha... Haha... How...!” Throwing his arm over his eyes, he wheezes in grief and euphoria. “How lucky—! To get not just a second chance, but a third!”</p>
<p>“Komaeda!”</p>
<hr/>
<p>That’s the delight about his luck, you see. Luck is when something happens in spite of the odds. As long as there’s that non-zero-percent chance, there’s a way. And his Ultimate Luck worked that very way.</p>
<p>Wasn’t that <em>wonderful</em>? Wasn’t that <em>amazing</em>?</p>
<p>No matter how many times he tried over and over and over and over and over and over again, as long as there was a chance of success—none of it mattered! None of it at all!</p>
<p>Even when—</p>
<p>“Look, Komaeda, I know you mean well, but—I’m not in the mood, I’m sorry. I don’t think—I can talk to you anymore.”</p>
<p>And <em>when</em>—</p>
<p>“Y-You’re getting kinda creepy, so like...can you just leave it alone...? I don’t need you patronizing me.”</p>
<p>Especially <strong><em>when</em></strong>—</p>
<p>“I don’t know who told you about the project, but if it gets out, it’ll be bad for Hope’s Peak. Sorry, Komaeda-kun, but we just can’t take the risk, even if it’s with you. But you’ll understand, won’t you?”</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <em>When—</em>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>“I-I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Please, open your eyes! Komaeda! Komaeda! NAGITO!!”</p>
<hr/>
<p>“Hey, can you hear me?”</p>
<p>He wakes up, dazed and dizzy. He still remembers the cold stream of blood running down his temple. Hinata shakes his shoulder a bit.</p>
<p>“You with me? That fall was—pretty bad.”</p>
<p><em>So bad it killed me,</em> he thought drearily. <em>But it’s okay. I’m still here. I still have—a chance. But what should I do this time? What’s even less? How should I—?</em></p>
<p>“Maybe I should get you ice?” Hinata wonders, almost idly. “Komaeda, how are you feeling?”</p>
<p>
  <em>I’m so frustrated.</em>
</p>
<p>“Like shit.”</p>
<p>“Oh. Wow. That’s blunt. Guess you did hit your head pretty hard.” Hinata shrugs it off. He goes to the freezer to fetch an ice pack. “Yeah, I’ll tell Mioda that we’ll have to stop band practice early today. And I don’t want to hear any arguments.”</p>
<p>
  <em>What can even be done about you?</em>
</p>
<p>He does come up with an idea. One that’s sure to make Hinata Hajime hate him. He knows going to Hope’s Peak staff is a dead end, figuratively and literally—he supposes, then, all he has left is burning the bridge entirely.</p>
<p>“Actually, Hinata-kun.” He manages his usual smile as Hinata hands him the pack. He doesn’t feel the chill seeping into his skull as he presses it to the bump there. “I’ll just tell Mioda-san that the band isn’t an option anymore.”</p>
<p>Hinata Hajime blinks at him rather dumbly.</p>
<p>“You...don’t think you can recover at all?”</p>
<p>
  <em>Aha. You’re so cute.</em>
</p>
<p>“I can’t accept it. You in a space for Ultimates. Associating with Ultimates. Reserves like you—that level of cockiness should be considered a crime.”</p>
<p>Hinata Hajime blinks again.</p>
<p>“...seriously? This again? You’re going to throw another tantrum now? Y’know—you’re just going to upset the others. Mioda, Saionji, Tsumiki, like—they don’t deserve this shit. Just rest. Recover. But if you want to drop out, I’m not going to stop you. It’s your own damn problem to deal with.”</p>
<p>“Ahaha. You make me sound so selfish.” <em>Maybe I am. You’re just one person. The loss of someone like you shouldn’t be significant. And, yet. I want to prevent it.</em> “It’s not just me, I swear. It’s you. All you. Hinata-kun, I—think you should go back to your last high school.”</p>
<p>“Well, I refuse. Sorry.”</p>
<p>Right now, Hinata Hajime looks at him as if he were the scum of the earth. He should be used to that.</p>
<p>
  <em>It still hurts. But, compared to everything else—this meager self-centered pain is—</em>
</p>
<p>“Haha. Hinata-kun, you’re such a piece of work. You’re so pathetic, trotting after every Ultimate’s heels. You’re even latched onto someone like me.” He laughs. It hurts. It’s cold. “Do you think that if you cling hard enough that you’ll be taken in? Like a stray dog?”</p>
<p>“That wasn’t why!” Hinata exclaimed. “You—I just got dragged into this from the start!”</p>
<p>“I doubt it’s that.” The ice is set aside. Komaeda swings his legs over the side of the bed. “I really do believe you think it’s that easy to be accepted. Just to wiggle your way in. Like a naughty cuckoo. But, don’t you know? Birds aren’t all fools. They can spot the fakes. They reject them. It’s going to be the same with you. So.” He pokes Hinata’s sternum. There’s a flutter. “It’s best you just leave before you’re dropped, Hinata-kun. It’ll hurt less that way.”</p>
<p>Hinata slaps his hand away.</p>
<p>“Fuck you.”</p>
<p>Komaeda slaps him across the face. The response is immediate. Hinata seizes the collars of his shirt, pulls him close, and—</p>
<p>Komaeda screams.</p>
<p>The response is immediate.</p>
<p>Hinata drops him in surprise. A passing teacher rushes in. Komaeda points. Hinata pales.</p>
<p>Hinata tries to stammer out his name. Komaeda doesn’t look at him.</p>
<p>“Teacher, this reserve attacked me.”</p>
<p>Hinata shouts at him before he’s yanked away. It could’ve been out of rage. Confusion. It could’ve been a plea. Komaeda doesn’t really remember that part—but he does remember Hinata Hajime’s expulsion soon after.</p>
<hr/>
<p>The days pass.</p>
<p>The world still ends.</p>
<p>Komaeda Nagito can only laugh until he bursts into tears. He passes out soon after and hopes he doesn’t wake up again.</p>
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